Monday, December 24, 2007

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Not a happy holiday post so if you don't wanna hear it, put your fingers in your ears and hum a Christmas tune.Ok, here goes. I am so totally fed up with hearing people go on and on about how everything made in China is crap. They outdo each other with stories of the crappiest items from China. Hey, I know the things at the dollar store are crap - and most of them are made in China. But not EVERYTHING made is China is crap. My daughter was "made in China" and she is quite wonderful. Actually, one of the best things in my life. How will she feel when she is old enough to understand. To understand that everyone thinks that everything made in China is crap. How is she supposed to grow up with a sense of pride in where she is from?? You know how kids think - if everything made in China is crap, therefore I must be crap. Maybe it's just me being oversensitive, but I just can't stand it. To quote Peter Griffin (a la Family Guy), "It really grinds my gears".Ok, rant over. You can now return to your regularly scheduled holiday happiness.

Friday, December 14, 2007

I thought it would be fun to participate in Catherine'sChristmas Tree Challenge! So, here it is, our tree for 2007. It is a real tree, picked out by Francis last Friday night - the coldest day of the year. :o) The ornaments are all bears, and non-breakable. The kids are allowed to play with the bears - I didn't want a "no touching" tree. We try and buy new ornaments when we are away on holiday and we have picked up some really cute bears over the years. When we were in China this summer we picked out a small ornament at the Cloisonne factory - it's of two panda's hugging. The top of the tree holds a wooden angel bear that is one of my favorites.

So while I'm at it, here are a few other decorated areas of the house...

Monday, December 03, 2007

Friday, November 30, 2007

Yesterday Francis had a ped day so we spent most of the day at the mall. The highlight of the day (for the kiddos) was seeing Santa. I wondered how Naomi would react to "The Big Guy". She actually walked right to him when he held out his arms to her, but when he sat her on his lap it was just more than she could stand. This is why she is on Francis' lap. Overall I don't think she was afraid of him, she just didn't want to sit on his lap. After the picture, Santa gave the kids sticker books from the Ratatouille movie. For 3 hours, Naomi had a death grip on her book. She was so happy with that book - I think she somehow realized it came from someone quite special.

Monday, November 26, 2007

I think this is a cry for help. Poor kitty never gets any attention anymore. I think he's trying to say "I'm the baby, pay attention to me!". Of course Naomi was not happy - not one bit and whined until the cat got out of HER chair.

Monday, November 19, 2007

I am already fed up with the cold weather - dressing a baby in a snowsuit, hat, boots and mittens every time you need to step out the door gets really old! Ever try and wrestle mittens on a 12 month old? Not a pretty sight!! Actually, in 2 days she will be 13 months old! Wow, where is that 9 month old baby I adopted?? Time is just flying by!

A few days ago we got the kids dressed up and took pictures to try and get a holiday picture of the 2 of them. Wow, what a job that was!!! Here's a cute little preview of Naomi. Naomi is getting better at walking - the video below was taken last week but I thought it was so cute I had to share it.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Yesterday at my mom's she took her first unaided steps of her own free will - of course I missed the whole thing because I was in the bathroom!

Today we went to an indoor playground with friends Elisa, Thomas and Zoe. Naomi walked all over the place!! She kinda walks like a drunk zombie, but it's a start! I tried to get some pictures of Naomi and Zoe together - wasn't easy as they are both busybums!!!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Yesterday I was doing a little shoppy with Naomi at H&M (a trendy store with good music). Naomi was fed up of being in her stroller so I had let her out and she was walking and holding the back of the stroller. As I am checking out some cute clothes I see a group of women nudging each other and pointing to Naomi - so I look over and Naomi is doing the little booty dance (as seen in the last post. That's my girl :o

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Not sure who started the bullet posts but I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

· I’ve been busy calling / visiting daycares. It is really hard to get daycare here as it is subsidized ($7/day) So you have to go thought this process of getting your name on a million lists.· Naomi is still sick but getting better. I am getting really fed up of the nose wiping!!!· A HUGE congratulations to Abby’s mom on her referral!! Whoohoo!!

· Naomi is has taken her first steps!· Naomi loves to climb the stairs – if I forget to put up the gate she is upstairs in a flash!· Naomi laughs a lot. She kinda sounds like a squeaky toy sometimes – her laugh is hilarious.· Francis has taught Naomi that farts are very funny.· Francis also taught her that bad table manners are very funny.· Every time Naomi takes a sip from her sippy cup she says “Ahhhhhhhh…”· I dropped my camera and broke the battery door – sigh. Now I have to tape it to keep the batteries from falling out. I’m procrastinating taking it in for repair because I’ll be cameraless for 3 weeks!· I was at the mall today and heard Christmas music. It made me smile. :o)· 4 months ‘ till Hawaii! :o)· 5 months ‘till back to work. :o(· I can’t get Elmo’s la la la la song outta my head.· Naomi says “hi” when I get her up from her nap – so cute!!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Poor baby. She is just not herself. It is a scary thing for a parent to have a sick baby. They can't tell us how they feel - you kinda have to guess. We thought she was just getting Francis' cold but this morning she was making weird inhale noises when she coughed or cried. It really scared the crap out of me. Off to the doctor. Turns out she has croup. Poor baby.

My doctor told me there were 2 possible treatments. One involves steroids the other involves no medication but a cold air humidifier, an open window and a snowsuit. Of course I picked the latter. :o)

This brings me to post something I think may be of use to new parents out there.Most coughs and colds are best remedied by putting the baby in a cool humid room (cold air vaporizer, open window). Place a folded towel or blanket under the mattress at one end so baby is sleeping on a slight angle. Spray some saline solution in each nostril, wait 30 seconds and use the snot sucker (nasal bulb) to get everything out. Administer Tempera (or equivalent) for fever. Don't give a baby cough syrup. Ever.

Maybe some of you BTDT parents have some other suggestions, ideas, contributions?? I like to take a natural approach as much as possible. Recently a friend told me about Camilia which you have to get at a health food store - but it is amazing for teething as it's a pain reliever and fever reducer. Another friend told me about OLBAS oil (oil of basil). It's a sort of aromatherapy that has a strong scent (like Vick's or eucalyptus). You can put a few drops on baby's pj's or on bedding to help open nasal passages.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Thursday, September 27, 2007

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Hi, I'm Julie (creative, verbose, chocaholic) married to Stephan (aka: Hockey Dad). We have 2 great kids through adoption; Francis b: 29/01/01 adopted from Kemerovo, Russia in 2002 and Naomi b: 21/10/06 adopted from Guizhou, China in 2007.This blog started out as our journey to our daughter but has morphed into a blog about our life as a family.